Suppose you could do one thing to be more effective and efficient in your clinical practice, expand your professional network, and feel supported in pursuits such as research and teaching. Wouldn’t you jump on that opportunity? Physical therapy mentorship relationships can provide these benefits and MORE!
What is Mentoring?
Mentoring is a foundational aspect of post-professional career development and facilitates the advancement of the clinical reasoning process. An effective mentoring relationship is mutually beneficial to both mentor and mentee, contains excellent communication, and challenges both parties to learn and grow together in a dynamic process. Ideally, mentorships promote evidence-based learning principles and performance outcomes that facilitate advanced skill development, clinical expertise acquisition, and clinical decision-making process refinement.
Setting the Foundation for A Successful Mentoring Relationship
An essential first step in establishing a successful mentoring relationship includes a pre-mentorship interview.1 This interview is a chance for the mentee to share their professional goals and desired outcomes they are looking for in a mentorship. During the pre-mentorship interview, mentors should ask guiding questions about what a mentee hopes to obtain during their mentoring experience (ie, are they looking to refine clinical skills, pursue research/scholarship experience, or need direction in their career trajectory/development). If the mentee is unsure of their aims, mentors can include questions such as, “Who is your ideal role model and why?” or “What day-to-day activities are most rewarding for you?” These questions can facilitate a more profound reflection from the mentee to help consolidate their goals in a mentoring partnership.1
What is The Mentee’s Role?
Perhaps the most crucial attribute for a mentee to maintain is the approach of a growth mindset. Growth mindset includes practices of adopting an attitude that embraces mistakes as learning opportunities, feedback as a chance for improvement, and a self-concept that includes resiliency and capacity for growth. Mentees who believe that their skills can be improved through hard work, supportive relationships, and an openness to change tend to achieve more and have a more positive mentoring experience than those with a fixed mindset. Other mentee characteristics that may help a mentee excel are being self-motivated, flexible, and responsible in the learning process.
What is the Mentor’s Role?
Mentors also have challenges and responsibilities within a productive and successful mentoring relationship. Evidence supports traits associated with influential mentors, such as being approachable, interested, trustworthy, nonjudgmental, caring, good listeners, and empathetic.1,2 Those working to cultivate their mentoring skills may need to self-reflect on which of these attributes come naturally to them and which they may need to work to develop in order to provide the best learning experience for their mentees. During the mentoring process, influential mentors should provide regular, honest, and constructive feedback to mentees about their developing level of clinical competence, establish clear performance expectations, and challenge mentees to continually elevate their clinical decision-making and skill performance.3
Choosing the Right Mentor: Mentor Pairing
The best mentoring relationships include firm commitments from both parties to uphold the goals and responsibilities of each role. Finding an ideal mentor can sometimes be challenging, and there are different ways that mentorships can come about. Mentees can choose their mentor within a professional network from someone they look up to, or they may have one assigned to them within a more formal training program, such as a residency or fellowship. There are many options for mentoring formats, and this may include one-on-one, group, or peer mentoring. As the mentee becomes more confident in their skills, expanding a single mentoring relationship to include other mutually known and valued mentors can benefit the continued professional growth of the mentee. Peer mentoring can also be a very effective process and may consist of working with a mentor in the same career stage or age but who may have more experience in a specific domain or niche of practice. Regardless of the type of mentoring approach, evidence suggests that the optimal mentoring relationships are those in which the mentee selects the mentor.
Optimizing Feedback within A Mentoring Relationship
One of the factors to be considered in providing the best benefit from mentoring is the delivery of constructive feedback. Feedback should be provided within a relatively short time from the mentoring session to optimize the learning potential and in a private, quiet location. Mentors can improve how feedback is received with some tips that may make mentees feel more comfortable and receptive to feedback. For example, statements like, “I would like to provide a little feedback on…” can set the stage for clarity in communication. Mentors can also begin sessions by obtaining the mentee’s impressions of clinical evaluation or treatment sessions to aid in the mentee’s self-reflective process, which is vital for development as expert clinicians.3 Observations from the mentee may provide non-threatening ways to introduce potential growth areas for the mentee and where improvements could be made.
As a mentor, it is essential to provide “balanced” feedback by verbalizing areas and specific instances where the mentee excelled in addition to their identified weaknesses. However, a mentor also has a responsibility to help with the learning of the mentee in identifying errors or flaw in their thought process but must seek to do this in an empathic and supportive manner.
Mentorship can provide professional inspiration, growth, and a wealth of learning from both the mentee and mentor. We view these relationships as an opportunity to “Grow Together” and we hope that this inspires you to investigate how you may gain value from mentorship as either a mentor or mentee.
References
- Humphrey H. Mentoring in Academic Medicine. In: Principles, Techniques, and Practical Suggestions for Mentoring Residents. American College of Physicians; 2010:105-128.
- Jo M, Cusano A, Leckie J, et al. Mentorship programs in residency: a scoping review. J Grad Med Ed. 2023:190-200.
- Kritek P. Strategies for effective feedback. Ann Am Thoracic Soc. 2015;12(4):557-560.
The authors declare no competing interests.
Author Bios
Kathleen Geist, PT, DPT is a clinician and educator in Atlanta, Georgia. She is an Associate Professor at Emory University in the Division of Physical Therapy and is the founder and Director of Emory’s Orthopedic Physical Therapy Residency program. Dr. Geist has over 25 years of orthopedic clinical experience and is a practicing clinician in a hospital-based orthopedic clinic. She has been a clinical instructor and mentor in a clinical setting for over 20 years. She is recognized by the American Board of Physical Therapy Specialties (ABPTS) as a board-certified Orthopedic Clinical Specialist (OCS). She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Orthopedic Manual Physical Therapists (FAAOMPT).
Leda McDaniel, PT, DPT is a practicing Physical Therapist in Atlanta, GA, and an adjunct professor at Emory University's Division of Physical Therapy. Leda earned her Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) in 2019 from Ohio University. She graduated from Emory University’s Orthopedic Physical Therapy Residency program and obtained her Board-Certification as an Orthopedic Clinical Specialist (OCS). Leda’s passion for physical therapy is paralleled by an interest in teaching and education and her teaching roles have included those within Emory University’s DPT program and Orthopedic PT Residency program, delivering guest lectures for Northwestern University’s Orthopedic PT Residency Program, Georgia State’s DPT program, Ohio University’s DPT program, and serving as a Clinical Instructor to DPT students and Clinical Mentor to Orthopedic PT residents. Leda strongly believes in the value of professional mentorship having had many wonderful experiences as both a mentee and mentor.